<Begin Segment 4>

LT: Okay. So when you went to school, you started at Middle Valley school. What did you think of school?

TT: Well, I don't remember thinking one way or the other, just what everybody else did, I guess, you went to school.

LT: Can you tell me about your school?

TT: Well, all I know is that it was divided into, the first four grade was one teacher, and then the other four grades were another teacher, and two-room school. So I remember must have learned how to read by, they used to have a big chart they used to put up, and then she'd teach us how to read that, I guess. So learned the English then, taught me how to read. But then I must have known a little bit before that, because I used to play with this kid all the time. I must have spoke English to him. So it's hard to say when you start learning that English.

LT: So it sounds like you grew up bilingual, speaking Japanese and English.

TT: But I spoke Japanese only to my mother or father, because they didn't speak it to each other.

LT: Well, when you went to Middle Valley school, were there other Japanese students?

TT: No, we were the only ones.

LT: So what was it like to go to a school where you were the only Japanese American students?

TT: Well, I didn't think too much about it, I just figured that's the way it was, so just had more white friends, I guess.

LT: Did anyone say anything or do anything or view you as different?

TT: No, I never remember anything like that. Because, well, they were just another kid, I guess, so nobody said anything or anything like that. Never heard anything like that.

LT: Okay. At lunchtime, did you eat lunch at school? Did you take your lunch?

TT: Yeah, we used to take a lunch. What I remember is that there's two other kids that used to eat lunch together, and we used to exchange sandwiches. I guess I always took a bologna sandwich, and this other kid, he always had, they had a lot of sheep, so he had, his mother made him mutton sandwich. And then this other kid, he used to always bring roast beef sandwich, and we used to always change sandwiches. Get tired of our own, I guess. And it was rare for them, too, so I guess they liked it, too.

LT: And what about the bologna that you took?

TT: It was just a piece of bologna, I don't know if she put butter on there or what, but then sliced bologna. Used to buy those big bolognas, just slice that. That and then probably a peanut butter and jam sandwich. We used to eat quite a bit for a little kid, two sandwiches. Because nowadays I only eat one sandwich. [Laughs]

LT: Did you ever take a rice ball or any Japanese food?

TT: No, I never did.

LT: Okay. Well, when you were a kid, you actually went to a number of different schools, because your family moved. I believe your father was working for different farmers?

TT: Well, no, we weren't hardly going to school then, yet, when he was working for different hakujin farmers. But, well, went to three grade schools. That one... well, the only reason we went to the second one was that the other school closed down, so they just bused it, so went there. And then I went, when my dad sold the place, I mean, quit farming and went, before he bought, worked for Kiyokawa for a year or two, so I went to Dee grade school for one year. And then the second year I guess I was in, went to Hood River junior high, and that's when we bought the (land) in Odell, so moved to Odell the next year.

LT: What was it like to go to different schools?

TT: Well, that first one was just the, all of us went together from our school to that school by bus just that one year. But when we went to Dee, that's the first time we went to school with the Japanese kids. There was quite a few Japanese kids in Dee, Dee grade school. So that one year, and then went to junior high, and that was mostly white kids. So it was just another school year for me.

LT: Was it different for you to go to a school with many other Nisei Japanese American students as opposed to being the only Nisei at school?

TT: No, I didn't feel any different. Didn't bother me or anything like that. I don't remember thinking anything about that.

LT: Okay. Well, I think you mentioned that your father bought his own farm in 1937.

TT: Yeah.

LT: So how was it to have your own farm, to work on your own pear farm?

TT: Well, actually, the two years we were in Dee I didn't work because I was in school, and my dad was the only one that worked for Kiyokawa orchard. And actually it was the first time we started working on your own farm, it was my dad, he bought it, so I was just helping out at first, just liked helping out.

LT: Your father had mentioned that on weekends he and the family worked inside the orchard and not by the road?

TT: No, I don't remember anything like that.

LT: Okay. When you think about your mother, how would you... what was she like?

TT: Well, she's pretty quiet, and I don't know what else to say. Probably was easier to get along with. I mean, it was easy to get along with Dad, too, but that's all I remember. She wasn't very outspoken or anything.

LT: And what about your father? How would you describe him? What was he like?

TT: He liked to go out quite a bit, because he was pretty active in the Issei crowd. He's kind of more or less easygoing, I'd say easy to get along with.

LT: Okay.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2014 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.